Skratch Bastid

Today's a very special day in the music world and it should be very exciting for you as well. A new artist has emerged ready to combat those lazy tracks you've been listening too. Move over big-time artists and charlatans, we have a new contender and his name is Black Atlass. Both songwriter and producer, 17 year-old Alex Fleming from the Big Stink a.k.a. London, Ontario isn't your average everyday tween. Turning around a 6-track EP (solo) is a daunting task for anyone, but to do it with such gusto is magical. Heavy kicks, beautiful piano composition and a lovely vocal undertone puts the metaphorical cherry right on the top of some of the freshest six tracks I've heard in a while. - Earmilk

A 17-year-old musical inspiration known as Black Atlass has hit London’s music scene. He’s playing at Castledrum’s first show of the year on Saturday.

Black Atlass, or Alex Fleming – a Grade 12 student at St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in London, just released a six-song EP that he wrote, produced and mastered by himself.

“In it you can hear snippets across all genres, from ’50s blues to pop and rap, R&B vocals, and dub step in the spacing of the beats,” says Fleming.

The young man spends countless hours creating music in the basement-turned-music studio of his parents’ home.

Fleming sings and plays all the instruments that a full rock band would. He then digitally adds to and alters his music, giving it a more electronic feel.

Rob Ross, electronic musician and creator of the record label HANDS as well as Castledrum here in London, was blown away when he came across Fleming’s music on Londonfuse.ca.

“It sounded to me like someone twice his age mastered and produced it,” says Ross. “He is able to create an expansive sound – an epic feel – a realization, like you’re on the brink of something big. That’s the feeling I get from it.”

The standout track for Ross is Hills, which also comes with a music video produced by Flemings’s 18-year-old friend Cameron Morris. The video, like the song, is slow burning and eludes a dark, seductive vibe, says Ross.

Much of Fleming’s inspiration springs from other art forms, including fashion and film.

“Sometimes I write from the perspective of a character in a movie. I’ll try and take some of that feeling and put it into my music,” he says.

The name Black Atlass came to Fleming as he was travelling back to London from Montreal by car.

“There was an atlas in front in me. You can interpret that as movement, travelling or the world. And black is associated with a mystique, or being cool.”

Fleming is now working on a 13-song album, which he hopes to release in the spring.

The fact that Fleming is only 17 baffles Ross. “I can’t get over it. Most kids his age are not doing anything like this. It’s amazing to see someone so young and focused, taking this route and excelling in it.”

Fleming is unsure about what the future holds for him.

“Right now I’m just seeing where it goes. But in the back of my mind, I know I want to make this my career. It’s my art, it’s what I do.”
- Metro News

Woozy, loop-heavy R&B covered with a shroud of mysterious haze is the name of this teenage former Montrealer’s game, and for a free tumblr download, this first release is remarkably assured and focused. He’s a lo-fi luva luva type who obscures his tender vocals with copious amounts of reverb and mutates his synths to match. The sound is fully formed already, giving Atlass ample opportunity to construct memorable songs to fit his aesthetic. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Paris” (Erik Leijon) - The Montreal Mirror